Photo Credit: Pun Active Management, By Brandon Espeleta

Los Angeles rapper G. Perico has been quietly making some of the best gangsta music on the west coast for sometime now, and after the great All Blue dropped a few months ago, his stock for sure went up. The LA rap scene can be crowded,  but G makes sure he stands out. With his distinct voice, and even more distinct look, G is poised to become one of the bigger artists coming from the west right now.

He’s able to draw comparisons of some of the west coast biggest legends (E-40, Too $hort, and most notably DJ Quik) while still sticking to his own unique sound. RESPECT was able to sit down with Perico and talk about a ton of things such as where he draws his inspiration from, the Quik comparisons, A$AP Yams and more. Enjoy the interview below, and be sure to check all the latest G. Perico music.

RESPECT.: Explain the name G. Perico for me.

G. Perico: It gotta few different meanings right? It came to me through a spot in the hood. It was really a f**king joke at first, when n***as was calling me that at first, it was an ongoing joke. I took it and ran with it, cause I thought it was dope I ain’t see what was so funny about it. N***as was saying it and laughing loud as f**k. It’s like a Spanish word that really means f**cking Cherokee, but like on the streets it mean dope and shit.

RESPECT.: What was it like growing up in LA, and how did it influence your music?

G. Perico: I mean growing up in LA, was like a dope ass experience, like when I look at how everybody else grew up, we grew up wild and fast. Naturally, you get involved in the gang banging s**t super early. You know it’s my day to day life what I talk about, everything I seen, everything I do. F**cking jail, to having a s**tload of street money, you know different s**t, I just talk about that. I’m pretty much a visual artist, so like anything that’s happened to me I try to articulate it.

RESPECT.: So what inspired you to get out the streets and start making music?

G. Perico: I’m in the streets rapping. So, I wouldn’t even say get out the streets. But probably switching up my movements, just a little different. What made me do that was pretty much just like… I already knew I could rap, I was good with words. My whole s**t was lack of options. A couple of my best friends got killed, a few of em’ got smoked out on heavy drugs, n***as started getting life so my circle just got so f**cking thin, cause we was just a crew of n***as that ain’t give a f**k and was doing all type of s**t. My back was against the wall I ain’t have s**t else to do, besides music. I’m never gon get a job in my life. (Laughs)

RESPECT.: Who were some of your rap inspirations coming up?

G.Perico: The original Cash Money, Suga Free, Jay-Z, Nelly all these n***as that was doing they s**t you know what I’m saying? Too $hort, E-40, pretty much everybody that impacted the game and spoke to they hood to the T.

RESPECT.: Who specifically from the west coast influenced you?

G. Perico: The Relatives, that was an Inglewood based group who had the streets for a while. F**cking Suga Free, Quik, Snoop s**t even The Game. It’s a lot of people, a lot of underground n***as that’s my peers you know what I mean? I was listening to they s**t before I started f**cking around. Pretty much just LA Gangsta hard core rap.

RESPECT.: How do you feel about the DJ Quik comparisons? Because I know you get them a lot.

G.Perico: I really ain’t mad it you know what I mean? That guys a legend.  The only thing that gets me is when mutha****s be like are you trying to bring back a sound or reignite some s**t? F**k no, no I’m not, I’m the first n***a doing what I do. I just want to let that be known, I’m not trying to bring back s**t. I’m bringing people to my side, showing them what we do on the east side of South Central. I ain’t mad at the Quik comparisons though, Quik a legend I grew up listening to him, watching him, and I can hear it, so if I can hear it and admit that I could hear it why would I be mad at some obvious s**t?

RESPECT.: What’s your relationship with Nipsey Hussle?

G. Perico: The same people he started music with, was the same people that I was around but I wasn’t going hard like he was. I really wasn’t giving a f**k about it, we pretty much come from the same beginnings. My nigga rarebeats from Watts, that’s who pretty much got me started. He been knowing about me, I been knowing about him for years and s**t and he just always been supporting like a real n***a. Probably like the realest most authentic mutha****a I done came across in this s**t is Nipsey. Most of these n***as is perpetrators, but Nip he a solid dude. That’s my boy though.

RESPECT.: Who are some of your favorite producers to work with?

G. Perico: My favorite producers is my boys Westside Webb, Polyboy, Polyester, Casey Khalil, League of Starz, Dupri, Jaynari, pretty much anybody I f**k with and who I vibe with, and who can understand what I’m trying to do. A lot of these n***as just try to give you anything.

RESPECT.: So is anybody you named have the drop “What up Uce?” because you work with him a lot.

G. Perico: Yeah that’s my boy Polyboy. That’s really like my partner in this s**t. Like that’s who helped me transition into this music s**t. I had a problem mingling with people at first in this industry s**t, and when you come in mutha*****s gotta have a reason to f**k with you, but Polyboy was the dude that helped me get noticed and s**t.

RESPECT.: Outside of LA counterparts I noticed you don’t do a lot of features. Is there anybody in the game you want a feature with?

G. Perico: I mean I could say but I want to meet mutha****as first and see if they cool or not. You know it’s a lot of people I been fans of and I meet them and they f**k a**, weird a** n***as, so I don’t really want to speak to soon, but it’s a couple people. How many n***as you know got songs together and then two weeks later they talking s**t about each other. I’m not into all that.

RESPECT.: I heard that A$AP Yams was up on you early. Is that true?

G. Perico: Yeah Yams was my guy, like that was my boy. I don’t even know why he was f**king with me, and I ain’t really see it, but Yams was my first introduction to the industry. Soon as I got out he was on me. He came to the hood, and we shot a video. He used to facetime me all the time, he was like the first person to facetime me and I ain’t like that s**t at first. I don’t like facetiming with n***as but that was my boy so I used to answer and s**t. He was giving me a lot of advice too, he kind of helped structure what I got going on right now, and why I’m not messed up in a dead end situation.

RESPECT.: So how does that make you feel knowing somebody as influential as Yams believed in you that early on?

G. Perico: I mean yams like a legendary visionary mutha****a. He behind a lot of big s**t, it just make me feel like I can’t waste what I got, and what I’m doing. I know that somebody that big and that on top had time to reach down to the bottom and see something obviously gotta be a gem. If I don’t go hard I would be doing that man a disservice, because he died early and he was f**cking with me in the last years of his life. So, I gotta go hard.

RESPECT.: So outside of yourself what artists today do you listen to?

G. Perico: Right before you called I was listening to that new French Montana album. I f**ks with that. I fuck with Kodak, OMB Peezy that n***a hard as f**k, SOB, Nef The Pharaoh. I’m into gangsta rap, I like the dudes who’s spitting game, Nipsey, and then outside of that I listen to a lot of old a** s**t.

RESPECT.: If you had to explain your music to someone who never heard it what would you describe it as?G.Perico: I would describe it as the narrative to the east side of South Central, Los Angeles.

RESPECT.: So, what’s next for G. Perico?

G. Perico: We working on a takeover. We working on hostile takeover, it’s a lot of s**t about to go down. Stay tuned.

Follow G. Perico on Twitter & Soundcloud

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The post RESPECT. Interview: Meet G. Perico, The Man Quietly Making Some of The Best Music On The West Coast appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.